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Accounting

Barriers to entry: Why they're not becoming accountants

By Daniel Hood
July 24, 2023 4:58 PM

It's not that students don't see value in the CPA license — it's that it's expensive and difficult to achieve, and frankly, not that exciting to a lot of them.

A recent study by the Center for Audit Quality and Edge Research sheds light on the "pipeline problem" — the increasingly insufficient number of young people studying accounting and then going on to become CPAs — both broadly in terms of what's holding students back from pursuing careers in the field, and specifically in terms of what's discouraging minorities for entering the profession.

Highlights of the study are below; read our full story here.

AT-072423-CAQ- Why students didn't choose accounting
The most common reason students didn't major in accounting is that they just didn't find it interesting — but very close to that is the ability to make more money faster in other fields, and the burden of the 150-credit-hour requirement.
AT-072423- Major hurdles for Blacks in becoming a CPA
The financial burden of the extra 30 credit hours, the time needed to study for the exam, and the cost of prep courses were the three major reasons Black accounting majors cited as major obstacles to pursuing CPA licensure. While white accounting majors were equally concerned about the time needed to study (41%), they were much less concerned about either the cost of the 150 credit hours or the cost of exam prep (29% and 27%, respectively). They were much more likely to be concerned about the cost of the exam itself, and the complexity of the application and licensing process.
AT-072423-CAQ-150 hours barrier to minorities
The 150 credit-hour rule is much more likely to be seen as an obstacle by Blacks and Hispanics than by whites.
AT-072423-CAQ-CPA exam confidence by race
There was interesting variation among ethnic groups regarding their ability to pass the exam: Just under two-thirds of Black accounting students (65%) were "extremely" or "very" confident they could pass, versus 59% of white students, and 54% of Hispanics.
AT-072423-CAQ-Perceived value of the CPA license by race
There was far less variation among different racial groups regarding the value of getting licensed as a CPA: Roughly 80% of all responding groups said that becoming a CPA would be "extremely" or "very" valuable to their career goals.
AT-072523 - When accounting students choose their majors - CHART
One key takeaway from the survey is that, if the profession wants to attract younger generations, they need to reach out to them earlier than they might have expected: Two-thirds of accounting students have already chosen their major by the time they reach college.
Daniel Hood
Editor-in-chief, Accounting Today
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